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Monday, August 22, 2011

Banh Mi Thit

My mom used to pack me a banh mi for lunch in middle school through high school, and upon opening said sandwich in the cafeteria, my dear friend Sally would promptly ask for her daily bite of my sandwich and then continue with her lunch. I could have asked my mom to make an extra sandwich for her, but it was much funnier this way.

Since moving to Pittsburgh, I've been on the hunt for a good banh mi place.

While at Eric's going away party, Boy and I met a neighbor, Aim, who told us about this awesome banh mi place two blocks from our building!!! How have we not seen this? Because it's an unmarked tent with a grill and a Vietnamese lady selling sandwiches. We were told to arrive before 2p on the weekends and before noon on weekdays because she sells out. I asked her how much the banh mi was. $6?!?!

Side note: Banh mi is always cheap. Like, $1.50-$3.50 for a 12" in all my experiences. Or free if your mom can make awesome ones and pack them for lunch. In comparison, $6 is steep.

While walking around the Strip District, Boy and I were debating on lunch at our favorite Vietnamese place...or the $6 sandwich place. Oh, what to do.

Fine, we caved and headed to the unmarked tent and ordered. Chicken for Boy, pork for me.

She cut two 7-8" pieces off a long baguette and slathered on some homemade mayonnaise, then took what looked like 4 servings (each!) of meat off the grill and stuffed it into our sandwiches. She then proceeded fill it with picked red onions, carrots, cauliflower, cucumber, jalapenos and cilantro. She set the entire sandwich onto the grill to get it nice and toasty. It looked amazing.

And now I know why it's $6. Which is completely affordable, by the way. We were just being ridiculous.

We heavily tipped her and I said "Thank you" in my American-ized Vietnamese and skipped our way back to the apartment for pictures.

I think I may skip on over there for lunch everyday for the rest of the year.

My mom used to pack me a banh mi for lunch in middle school through high school, and upon opening said sandwich in the cafeteria, my dear friend Sally would promptly ask for her daily bite of my sandwich and then continue with her lunch. I could have asked my mom to make an extra sandwich for her, but it was much funnier this way.

Since moving to Pittsburgh, I've been on the hunt for a good banh mi place.

While at Eric's going away party, Boy and I met a neighbor, Aim, who told us about this awesome banh mi place two blocks from our building!!! How have we not seen this? Because it's an unmarked tent with a grill and a Vietnamese lady selling sandwiches. We were told to arrive before 2p on the weekends and before noon on weekdays because she sells out. I asked her how much the banh mi was. $6?!?!

Side note: Banh mi is always cheap. Like, $1.50-$3.50 for a 12" in all my experiences. Or free if your mom can make awesome ones and pack them for lunch. In comparison, $6 is steep.

While walking around the Strip District, Boy and I were debating on lunch at our favorite Vietnamese place...or the $6 sandwich place. Oh, what to do.

Fine, we caved and headed to the unmarked tent and ordered. Chicken for Boy, pork for me.

She cut two 7-8" pieces off a long baguette and slathered on some homemade mayonnaise, then took what looked like 4 servings (each!) of meat off the grill and stuffed it into our sandwiches. She then proceeded fill it with picked red onions, carrots, cauliflower, cucumber, jalapenos and cilantro. She set the entire sandwich onto the grill to get it nice and toasty. It looked amazing.

And now I know why it's $6. Which is completely affordable, by the way. We were just being ridiculous.

We heavily tipped her and I said "Thank you" in my American-ized Vietnamese and skipped our way back to the apartment for pictures.

I think I may skip on over there for lunch everyday for the rest of the year.